We have survived! This is maybe the best we can say about our cooking the last days. We made cheese and meat fondue, we made icecreams and salads, we made a mess and had greatfully help by cleaning the kitchen! We seriously destroyed a knife, a handheld mixer, two vegetable soup bases... You may laugh! Good thing is we had time to buy a new mixer, make those soups in time and the knife is on its way to get sjharoened, and hopefully this serious dent can be fixed !The best we can say is: we didn't chop off our fingers, no emergency run to the hospital. We didn't fight - we were way to busy to understand why on earth we were so clumsy this Christmas season? When it comes to 'challenges', especially in the kitchen, I love to to try new things and throw myself into the task no matter what the loss. That is why Sophie sighed heavely when she came into the battle midway making this beautiful, adorable, amazing and picture perfect apple tart! The inspiration I got again from the instagram community, the account of Julie Jones, a British author, wife and mom who makes those tarts look so easy to make. I bought her book the Soulful Baker and all I can say is you need quite some determination and enthusiam to make those roses out of apple slices! I adapted some steps to my understanding but the credit goes to this gifted baker, she has real talent and a unique aproach to decorating her cakes, tarts and cookies.
I show you the before and after the baking, but I prefere the photos before!
all you need
is enthusiasm and ...
Preparation Time 1 hour
Baking Time 15 + 35 min at 180°C
Chilling Time ½ hour
You Need
For the crust
230 g flour
125 g butter, cold in cubes
50 g powder sugar
1 egg well beaten
2 tbsp. milk
grated peel from ½ lemon
grated peel from ¼ orange
For the filling
170 g soft butter at room temperature
170 g fine crystal sugar
170g eggs without the shell (about 3 eggs)
170 g almond meal
For the apples
8 rosy red apples, washed, with peel, no core
1 juicy lemon
½ to ¾ liter apple juice
Make the crust by mixing everything in your mixer with the paddle attachment, form a disk and wrap it in cling foil, refrigerate for ½ hour. Cut the washed apples length wise in half and cut either with a sharp knife or a mandolin in thin slices, try to be precise. Too thin and you wont be able to make anything out of it, too thick and the apples wont bend for you. Collect them in a pot drizzled with the lemon juice so they wont turn brown. Add the apple juice and cook the apples fast until a slice will bend when lifted with the spoon.
Immediately transfer the apples to a bowl with ice water and drain.
With the help of your mixer, make the filling. First beat the butter and sugar then add some of the egg and the almond meal in 3 steps. Beat well and set aside for later.
Get the dough from the fridge; roll it out on your work surface with the help of some extra flour and a rolling pin to 3-4 millimeter.
I transferred the dough to my loose bottom tart form by rolling it over the pin and dragging it to the from, then I cut off the scrapings and prebaked the crust for only 15 min and those blind baking lentils on parchment paper to weigh the dough down.
With the rest of the dough I made tiny balls and cut out stars and leaves. And chilled them on a plate in the freezer. Shapes are up to you, maybe you prefer leaves and flowers only? Then I formed roses with the cooled apples slices, peel visible. I used the soft ones for the center, added one slices at a time the bigger the roses got I used stiffer slices. Fill the prebaked crust with the cream and set the roses into the cream side by side. Decorate with the prepared and chilled dough shapes. Bake at 180°C for 35-40 min or until your tart starts to get some color.
